Thousands of Rwandese refugees returning to
their homeland following more than two years of exile in
camps in eastern Zaire have received hand hoes and vegetable
seeds in efforts to help them become food producers once
again.

An estimated 2,000 families received the supplies in
Rutongo, a farming village some 15 km from Kigali, the
capital of Rwanda, in an FAO-led operation during the last
week of November. Each family received a hand hoe and seeds
to grow tomatoes, leeks, cabbage, eggplants and melons.
Similar distributions were taking place in other parts of
Rwanda.

"I am ready to work again and grow food," commented
Katherine Nyiragira. The 61-year-old woman farmer had
arrived in Rutongo one week earlier following a 28-day
barefoot trek from the refugee camp. She made the journey
and must now rebuild her life alone. Nyiragira's husband and
her two children died at the camp.

Barely on her feet, she was one of an estimated 600,000
Rwandese refugees, most of them farmers, braving hot sun and
rainstorms as they made their way back to their country.

At the request of the Rwandese Government, FAO and other UN
organizations and agencies, donor governments, funding
institutions and NGOs are supplying returnees with tools and
seeds to restore food production even while emergency aid
efforts are still being carried out.

FAO estimates that about $5 million in emergency
agricultural assistance is needed for a total of some 2.3
million people in the Great Lakes Region (Rwanda, Burundi,
Uganda, eastern Zaire and western Tanzania).

Families queue to receive food production
kits

The supply of simple hand hoes and vegetable seeds that
can be grown rapidly any time during the year forms part of
a continuing assistance programme to increase productivity
in the face of the sudden and massive return of refugees.
Since June 1994, FAO has supplied $11.7 million in seeds,
tools and fertilizers to Rwanda from its own resources and
donor contributions.

The seed and tool programme will continue and be expanded in
Rwanda and neighbouring countries, said FAO.